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Sunday, 20 July 2014

Alagon dived into the pool, using his ability to breathe underwater that he had acquired in the Tomb of the Holy Avenger. Alurax joined him and they investigated the silver disc. Gullhar checked the room for secret doors but found nothing. Then Larsh the polar bear joined the swim party.

Gullhar called Elysia into the pool to see if casting a Reduce spell would help. She did just that and together with the water, the entire party (sans Lydia) fell a hundred feet down a shaft into another room, forty feet high. Just below the ceiling of that room was a passageway, but they could not (initially) reach it. Elysia used a Fly spell to take Gullhar up to the opening. Unfortunately there were two large iron doors blocking the way, leaving only a five-foot ledge on which to stand. Alurax was flown up next and together with Gullhar, took hold of the rings on the doors and pulled hard. The doors fell forward and both characters leapt out of the way to avoid being crushed – only to fall over the edge and back into the water again.

Elysia then flew the party back up to the passageway again, taking Gullhar a little way beyond the doors. Larsh was turned back into a figurine so that he could more easily be carried. Some way down the passage, there was a pit, fifteen feet across. From it came a dull red glow and – so Alagon sensed – a strong feeling of evil.

Lydia suggested using both of the iron doors to narrow the gap so that they could leap across. This they did and moved ever onward, finding two alcoves that at first they thought were side passages. Through a process of experimentation, they discovered that the alcoves were zones of complete silence. There did not seem to be much point to the alcoves, so the team ignored them and moved onwards. Meanwhile Alurax seemed to come over all weird but nobody else noticed.

At the end of the passageway, they came to a large octagonal room, with one other exit. In the middle of the room was a large pillar at its centre. The pillar was attached to the floor and ceiling and had pieces of jet and sapphire embedded all over it. Alagon sensed evil again but it was unfocused and he couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from. Using triangulation, he managed to locate its source somewhere beyond the wall of the chamber. How to get to it was another matter.

They took the exit passage and slowly moved along it. They came to what appeared to be a curtain of bronze fabric hanging from the ceiling and gingerly edged past it. Beyond that was another curtain, this time of silver fabric. Again, the party carefully slipped past, concerned about a trap. Finally, ahead Alagon saw a gold curtain hanging down and took out his ten-foot pole to probe it in case it was a danger to the party. Unfortunately for him, it was – a curtain of yellow mould which sprayed its spores straight at him as he poked it with his pole. His reaction was too slow to avoid the spores, which flooded into his lungs, killing him in a choking agony of sickly yellow sputum.

The party was horrified but had little time to react before Gullhar took out his time egg and used it to wind back time to the point at which Alagon was just examining the bronze curtain. He explained what had/was about to happen. Realising that they faced a grave danger, Elysia proposed that they retreat to the pillar room to consider their options.

Saturday, 21 June 2014

Saved from certain death by the time egg, Alurax began to investigate the contents of the library, finding the books on the evil Outer Planes very interesting. Gullhar made his way down one of the corridors that, according to the very artistic map he had been making, had not so far been explored. The rest of the party followed along and found that it led to a room that was completely filled with water, to a depth of about thirty feet or so. Beyond that room was another corridor, at the end of which were two golden doors.

Alurax, who had now rejoined the party, decided to swim across the pool but halfway there, a water weird materialised and attacked. It missed due to Alurax’s high armour class, but had another go – and missed again. Alurax, having found that his trident had little effect on the weird, climbed out of the far side of the pool, none the worse for wear. The rest of the party followed suit, Alagon swimming across and Elysia flying everyone else. The water weird did try to catch itself a victim but was simply unable to get anywhere near them. On his crossing of the water, Alurax spotted a large metal disc in the middle of the floor of the pool but had no time to investigate it.

Alagon led the way to the golden doors, but found that he couldn’t open them as they appeared to be locked. He called on Gullhar to deploy Larsh, and the polar bear began to hammer on the doors, shaking them but not opening them. Finally, with the assistance of Alurax, the doors were pulled off their hinges and the party peered through the opening.

Inside was what appeared to be a bedroom of sorts. There was a huge fur rug on the floor, a large four poster bed, a bedside table with some paperwork on it and on the far side of the bed, a large metal chest. Nobody could decide whether to enter the room so Gullhar took the initiative and went in, heading for the chest, which – if the examples of the other rooms were anything to go by – was where the goodies would be found. However, he noted that there seemed to be no lock to the chest and its lid seemed to just slide off. He was about to do so when there was a flash of magical power and before the horrified eyes of the party, Gullhar crumbled to dust.

At once, Alurax deployed his time egg to wind back the previous five minutes and the party found itself on the far side of the golden doors again; Alurax explained what was about to happen and the party resolved to be more cautious when investigating the chest. They tried various means of getting it open without touching it but found that it was impossible to do so. Having reached what appeared to be a dead end, they retraced their steps to the laboratory and took the other narrow passageway.

Alagon took the lead and after a couple of turns in the passageway, which was only five feet wide, he noticed a symbol on the wall ahead. He moved closer to see what it said and it suddenly glowed with a sinister magical power. He began to feel very confused, seeing weird visions of the rest of the party without faces, the walls sprouting tentacles and other strange hallucinations. Gullhar dragged him away and back to the laboratory, where he crawled into a corner, whimpering and gibbering.

Using her magical knowledge, Elysia deduced that what Alagon had seen was probably a Symbol of Insanity and there were only three ways around it – a heal spell, a wish or a restoration. She decided that the only way to get clerical help was to find Ferros and that meant a teleportation to Vergez. She held on to Alagon, told the party to await her return and vanished.

She arrived in the city safely. Unsure as to where Ferros might be, she sent Relic to find him but the pseudo-dragon had no luck. Elysia then asked the guards at the city gate if they remembered a cleric and a horde of zombies and skeletons leaving at all. The guards at the western gate said that they had seen him leading his merry band up the western road and Elysia set off, having hired a couple of horses and tied Alagon safely onto one of them.

Two days later, she arrived at a site where a large number of zombies and skeletons were working hard on digging foundations, clearing trees and transporting stone blocks. She swiftly found Ferros, consulting an architect on the progress of the new temple of Foik. He was pleased to see her but when she explained what she needed, he told her that he was not a high enough level cleric to cast any of the spells she was asking for. He recommended a friendly cleric in Vergez and after bidding him farewell, she rode back to the city again.

By now it was October 16th, which meant that she’d been away for four days. She hoped that the rest of the party had been okay in her absence and had not wandered too far from the laboratory. She found the cleric and after explaining the situation and mentioning Ferros’ name, they agreed a sum of 10,000 gold pieces to heal Alagon. The spell was swiftly cast and Elysia teleported back to the laboratory. To her great relief, the party was still there, having spent their time exploring the safe areas of the dungeon and reading the scrolls and tomes in the library.

The party decided that it would be best if they explored the passageway at a crawl so that they would not see the symbol that had caused Alagon so many problems. This approach worked, but as they neared the mid-point of the passage, Alurax crawled over a glyph of warding and it exploded beneath him, causing him a great amount of burn damage. The lead was taken by Alagon, who was keeping a keen eye out for suspicious looking glyphs and symbols. Thus it was that he spotted one ahead and managed to trigger it with a ten foot pole. It sprouted sickly green fronds, replete with barbs and thorns, which shimmered in the air for a few moments, before dissolving into nothingness.

The far end of the passageway debouched onto a long hallway, off which opened five doors. At the far end of the hallway, there was another five-foot wide passageway. Alagon tried the door nearest to him and found that it led into a bedroom which, from the state of the furnishings, had not been used for a long time. He searched it but found only perfumes and women’s clothing.

Gullhar sent Larsh through another door and the sound of clanging and crashing was soon heard. Once Larsh had come out, Gullhar went in and found that the room was a disused kitchen. A small passageway, only three feet high, led off it; he followed and found a low-ceilinged room where the withered skeletons of eight hobbits were chained. In the eighth compartment, a violet fungus waited for victims but it failed to hit the doughy elf and he – along with Alagon – soon hacked the malevolent plant to pieces.

The next door led to a large dining room with an oaken table, at which there was a large silver chair. Too big to be easily portable, the party noted it as treasure and moved on. They also investigated an old bathroom, but there was nothing of interest there.

Finally, they found another bedroom, in which were two beds and more female clothing. Alagon, whilst searching the bedside tables, found a large sapphire in a pouch, but sensed great evil coming from it. Alurax looked into the gem and sensed a malign intelligence therein, trying to establish mental contact.

With his elvish abilities, Gullhar detected a secret door in the wall opposite the door, which – when followed – led back to the bedroom with the metal chest.

There was only the narrow passageway to investigate now, and Elysia sent Relic up it to see what he could find. He reported that it led back to the library, and that there were two dangerous glyphs there, which the party wisely decided to avoid.

Returning to the library, the party pondered their options. Finally, they decided to look again at the water room, where the mysterious silver disc suggested that there might be something underneath. But what?

Abilities includeCreate nutritious food for 2-12 personsCreate water/wine for 2-12 personsCreate soft goods or wooden items with permanenceCreate metal items of up to about 1000gp in weight for a short life spanCreate an illusion with both visual and audial components which lasts until dispelledBecome invisibleAssume gaseous formWind walkForm a whirlwind (doing 3-18 pts of damage)

Alzabir, city of adventure, danger and mystery! A city on the edge of the desert, the terminus of a hundred caravans, home to a dozen races, the air thick with the heady scent of a thousand spices, the cries of prayer, the music of exotic dances and the screams of the dying. Ships from every port imaginable, crammed full of riches, put into its harbour; alluring houris ply their trade from marbled courtyards, masked assassins prowl the alleys. In the palaces, the sheikhs live in unimaginable luxury, in the slums the poor fight for every last scrap of food.

The city has recently been the scene of a battle between two creatures who share an ancient and inimical enmity – djinn and efreet. Nobody knows how they entered the city but enter it they did and their battle crackled through the air above the houses and the palaces before exploding like a second sun.

Whilst the efreeti was destroyed, the djinni was gravely injured and although it was able to recover its abilities, it had suffered total loss of memory in the process as a result of the magical energies to which it had been exposed. Now it wanders the city of Alzabir in human form, unable to recall who or what it is, but nevertheless curious about the environment in which it finds itself.

Normally djinn would limit the number of wishes they give to three, along the lines of strict agreements brokered with humans but this djinni, having no memory of the existence of agreements, has started to spontaneously grant wishes when it overhears them being made. As such, some very unusual occurrences have been noted in the city, both good and bad. Nobody knows why this is happening but some people have a shrewd idea of what might be causing it.

There are several interested parties who would like to find out what’s going on and turn it to their advantage. The party may find themselves being hired by any one of them or perhaps making a grab for power themselves.

1. City Administration who would like weird things to stop happening in their city.2. Cult who think that an angel has fallen from heaven and is performing good deeds (or taking revenge on evil doers) and believe this to be a sign that their time has come.3. Cult who thin that a devil has risen from hell and is using wishes to corrupt people and lead them astray) and believe this is a sign that they must take arms and fight said devil.4. The mainstream city religions who don’t want anything to upset their little world and would quite like things to go back to the way they were. 5. Rich merchant who wants the mysterious wish-giver for his own.6. The city folk, who have got wind of the mysterious wish giver and are trying to seek him/her out so that they too can get what they want.7. Agents of the Efreeti who want the djinni killed to finish the job their efreet bungled8. Sages who would absolutely love a real live supernatural entity to examine, probe, dissect…9. Thieves’ Guild who don’t know what is granting the wishes but can be fairly sure there’s a good market for it.10. Agents of the Djinn who are looking for the lost djinni.

The DM should ensure that as many of these factions meet and clash as possible and that the party is stuck in the middle of said clashes.

Monday, 9 June 2014

The party’s first action was to knock on the bronze doors; well, it was worth a try, but there was no response. Then Alurax decided to see if they would yield to the party’s default solution of throwing oil bombs at them. Again, there was no effect – apart from some smoke marks on the bronze (that’ll take ages to get out!)

At this point, Gullhar decided to make use of Larsh, the polar bear; with Alurax’s help, the doors started to yield; they were barred on the far side but that was no obstacle to the bear’s formidable strength. Finally, they gave way and flew open. The party stumbled in and found themselves in a large room, at the end of which were two sets of green curtains. Halfway down the room on each side was an alcove, in which was a large stone statue.

Elysia was wary about moving into the room without checking it out thoroughly; she sent an Unseen Servant to pull the curtains aside and Relic to fly in and see what lay beyond them. He reported back that there were two rooms there; one had a red stone floor, the other a pale blue one.

As the party moved towards the alcoves, the inevitable happened – the two statues animated and moved to attack. Gullhar and Larsh were facing one, Alurax and Alagon the other. Larsh tried to swipe and bite at the statue but his claws broke on the enchanted stone and he fell back, growling in irritation.

Alurax attacked with his trident, Alagon with Whitefyre and they damaged the statue that they were facing. Lydia tried to attack it but her sword bounced off the stone without doing any damage.

Gullhar took damage from a nasty stone punch. The doughty elf returned the favour and sent chips of stone flying off as his sword hacked into the statue. The next round, he scored another hit and managed to dodge the return punch from the statue’s stony fist.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hall, Alurax and Alagon attacked again; Alurax’s trident missed its mark but Alagon hit with Whitefyre and the statue shattered into hundred of chunks of rock.

Now the party’s attention switched to the statue that was facing Gullhar. Elysia fired a salvo of Magic Missiles at it but they bounced off the stone, having no visible effect. Alagon launched his attack, hitting the statue; it missed Gullhar, who was trying hard to avoid being hit. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain as a crushing blow sent him sliding across the obsidian floor. Alagon used this opportunity to hack again at the statue and this time, he succeeded in destroying it.

The party picked itself up and started to search the alcoves in which the statues had stood. They found several long-dead bodies and a collection of adventuring gear and magic items, which were squirreled away for later identification and use.

The party split up to explore the two rooms at the far end of the hall. Lydia and Alagon went into the room with the red stone floor and found that it was warm, whilst Gullhar and Larsh investigated the blue-floored room and found it to be very cold. The far end of the room was revealed to be not stone, but ice. As Gullhar and Larsh ventured onto it, the ice cracked and fell in, plunging them into a pit lined with brown mould. Alagon and Lydia rushed in to see what had happened. As the brown mould started to suck the heat from Gullhar, Elysia flew in and pulled him to safety; Larsh clambered out on his own. Alagon used his healing hands to repair some of the damage that Gullhar had taken.

They then decided to try the other room. Gullhar, ever adventurous, went down the passage on the far side of the room and found a strange dial mechanism which he began to turn this way and that. Unfortunately for the rest of the party, who were still in the main room, the floor vanished underneath them and they fell into a pit of white phosphorus. Due to the heat of their bodies, it ignited and they were all set on fire; Elysia flew out of the fire, taking Alagon with her. Alurax and Lydia clambered out of the pit, having been badly burned; the fire was also starting to affect Gullhar, who was rescued by Elysia, still using her Fly spell.

Having taken quite a lot of damage in the three rooms, the party decided that they would camp in the main hall while Alagon recovered his ability to lay on hands. They were now starting to realise the disadvantages of exploring dungeons without a cleric.

Eight hours later, they woke; in the outside world it was now October 12th. Alagon and Lydia tried to use their healing powers but found out, to their discomfiture, that they could only heal half the damage that the party had taken in the phosphorus pit. The party, being down on health and the ability to take damage, needed to tread warily as they explored the rest of the dungeon. Gullhar tried the door past the ice room. He failed again to get the lock open but Alurax had better luck with the door beyond the hot room.

Beyond this door was what appeared to be an old abandoned laboratory. There were various shelves, flasks, jars, racks of manuscripts, scrolls and the like. A large metal cabinet proved irresistible to Alurax but as he opened it, a fire trap went off and he started to jump about, trying to put the flames out. Inside the cabinet were hundreds of glass bottles of various shapes, sizes and colours. All seemed to be locked shut by something.

Being elves, Gullhar and Elysia managed to find two secret doors but as they were examining them, something invisible tried to strike at Alurax. It missed but the party were now alerted to its presence. They tried to hit it but failed dismally. The invisible creature struck at Lydia, doing her significant damage. The party lined up across the laboratory to try and isolate it but it moved towards Elysia and attacked her. Relic then used his ability to see invisible objects and creatures and stung their attacker, putting it into a catatonic trance. As the party watched, the little pseudo-dragon perched on top of the comatose attacker, and – now being aware of its location, Alurax, Alagon and Gullhar hacked it to pieces.

Believing the laboratory to be secure, the party investigated the secret door that Elysia had found. It led to a hidden chamber, in which there was a desk and a lever on the wall. Not being a man who can resist a lever, Alurax pulled it and the door slid shut again, sealing them in. On the desk was a mace, which – when touched by Alurax – tingled with magical power. Alagon got the impression that there was something evil about it.

In a drawer of the desk was a folded vellum sheet, which Alurax picked up and read. The explosive rune on it went off, blasting both Alurax and Alagon. Almost miraculously, the sheet was still legible and they realised that it was a guide to the bottles in the laboratory cabinet.

As well as the vellum, the drawer also contained a lump of amber with a black pearl inside it and a silver jar full of a strange liquid; Alurax took a sip of it and felt an incredible strength and power course through him.

Having seemingly exhausted the hidden chamber’s possibilities, the party decided to try the secret door that Gullhar had discovered. They moved down a passage, past a side branch and found the rear of another secret door that led them into a library. As they entered, a loud and continuous barking sounded, coming from nowhere in particular.

Alurax decided to move into the room but as he did so, something attacked him from behind, knocking him over and ripping into his armour. He very quickly fled the room and the barking stopped. A bit of experimentation revealed that the creature (whatever it was) only attacked its targets from behind. The rest of the party entered, kept their backs to the walls and began a search which soon revealed another secret door.

Beyond this one, there was another hidden room; this too had a desk in it but as well as that, a large rock in one corner. There was also a helmet on the desk, which Alurax picked up and tried on. There did not seem to be any immediate effect from wearing it.

Investigation of the rock soon revealed that it was hollow and it yielded to a few heavy blows from the party. Inside was a large collection of books and scrolls, which Elysia moved in to investigate. She was reluctant to examine them further because she sensed they might be magically booby-trapped.

Meanwhile, Alurax had got a bit bored and had wandered off down one of the corridors out of the library. Unfortunately for him, he walked straight into a fire trap which went off and killed him. On realising what had happened, Alagon decided to use his time egg that he had received at Christmas to wind back time five minutes so that he could prevent Alurax from going down the passageway in the first place. The impetuous fighter was admonished for splitting the party and getting himself killed. The party got the distinct impression that there were going to be many more opportunities for Alurax to do himself some serious harm before they left the dungeon.

Saturday, 24 May 2014

We rejoin the party having just finished the Tomb of the Holy Avenger. Lydia the somewhat aged paladin (now in her forties as opposed to eighteen) got word that something called the Chrysalis was awakening. This was clearly serious enough to arouse her intense alarm and she at once declared her intention to set off south to the city where her order of paladins was based. It was called Vergez and was a coastal city on the shores of the sub-tropical Southern Ocean.

It took them a week to get there and they arrived on October 3rd. Although back home, it might have been autumn, here the climate was a pleasant Mediterranean one, with blue skies, sunshine and warm waters.

Lydia headed straight for the headquarters of her order, suggesting that Alagon accompany her as this was a matter that concerned paladins and all warriors of virtue. On the way, Alagon had the strange experience of hearing a voice inside his head, urging him to attack and destroy anything evil. He realised that it was his sword, the Holy Avenger, talking to him telepathically. The sword identified itself as Whitefyre and told Alagon how much it was looking forward to smiting evil.

At the paladins’ HQ, Lydia vouched for Alagon as a fellow holy warrior, and they managed to get the others admitted. The senior paladin was surprised by Lydia’s appearance; he realised that she had encountered some serious undead and promised that if she survived the forthcoming mission, he would see if they could find some rejuvenating magic for her. This came as good news for Alagon; he had been forming a close relationship with Lydia but now had to come to terms with the fact that she was old enough to be his mother.

The senior paladin explained that nearly a thousand years ago, a powerful magic user had embarked on a process that would eventually lead to his becoming immortal and acquiring the powers of a devil. This process involved a chrysalis which would complete his transformation over a period of nine hundred years, a period that was now almost up. The party’s mission, if they chose to accept it, was to find the chrysalis, believed to be on an island in the Southern Ocean and destroy it. Lydia, of course, accepted immediately and Alagon was keen to join her quest. The rest of the party decided to go along for the ride.

Before they left, the senior paladin told them that the order had attempted a divination to find out more about the location of the chrysalis. It had not been particularly successful, but he gave them the short verse that had resulted from the spell. It read:

Ancient guardian lies in waitMongst the weeds, hard by the gateSnapping mouth and vap’rous breathBring a searing, grisly deathMighty Shassar is its nameKnown by men as Sailor’s Bane

They made their way down to the docks to hire a boat and crew. On the way, they bumped into Ferros, who they had not seen since entering the city. He explained that he had not been allowed to bring his zombies and skeletons into Vergez and had eventually decided to leave them outside. Once he was in the city, he was contacted by a representative of the church of Foik, who informed him that he had been selected to set up a new temple nearby. He would therefore be leaving the party forthwith and would not be accompanying the party on their latest mission.

(DG note – this arrangement had to be made because Ferros’ player had chosen not to rejoin the campaign after the exams break. Along with Garry the Gnome’s player, they now had other commitments; we wished them well and thought it best not to NPC their characters, since they might want to come back at some point).

The party managed to find a ship for hire and a crew to go with it. After some argument about whether to pay a crew or steer it themselves (quickly abandoned when nobody had the right skills to do so), they set off on the journey into the Southern Ocean.

A week later, the lookout in the crow’s nest sighted land on the horizon; not a very large piece of land but land nonetheless. As they got closer, it became clear that it was a rocky island and waves were breaking some way from its shores. Alurax sent Eristar off to see what she could discover and send the results back to him. He reported that the island was surrounded by a coral reef, apart from one narrow entrance. There was also a small area of beach on one part of the island which suggested the party’s landing point.

Elysia was keen to use her Fly spells to ferry the party across the reef-enclosed lagoon but Alurax took the initiative and ordered the captain to sail through the gap in the coral and head for the beach. The ship slipped into the lagoon and as it made its way towards the beach, Alurax’s Trident of Warning started to pulse an alert. The fighter concentrated on what it was sending and soon realised that a huge dragon turtle was heading straight for the ship.

Awesome Mini or what?

Alurax fired arrows at the incoming target and Elysia blasted it with Magic Missiles but it seemed that this did nothing to deter the attack; the dragon turtle hit the ship and nearly knocked it over in the water. Gullhar and Alagon were thrown into the water and the dragon turtle turned and began another run. As the paladin and the elf scrambled to grab the ropes that had been flung to them (and the sailors who had shared their fate), the ship was hit again and this time it completely tipped over. Alagon and Gullhar were flung across the ship by the ropes and landed near one of the longboats that had become detached. They swam as fast as they could to get out of the water.

Elysia and Alurax clambered up onto the side of the ship as the dragon turtle headed towards them for a third attack. This time, it reared up its head and blasted Elysia and the sailors with scalding steam; because of the damage that it had already taken, this was not as bad as it could have been. The sailors leapt into the water, as did Elysia. Alurax ran along the hull of the ship and leapt onto the dragon turtle’s head, trying to stab at it with his trident. He missed. Meanwhile, Elysia used a Polymorph Self spell to turn into a smaller dragon turtle so that she could communicate with the monster. She pleaded with it to allow them to pass because they were trying to destroy an ancient and evil magic user. The dragon turtle declared that it was loyal to Maldred, who had given it the lagoon for its own and refused to aid the party. As it prepared to blast Elysia in the water, Alurax stabbed at it again with his trident and this time, he was successful. The dragon turtle sank down into the waters of the lagoon, taking the doughty fighter with it as he struggled to pull his weapon out.

Regular readers will recall that during the adventure in the Tomb of the Holy Avenger, the party had managed to gain several handy new powers, one of which was water breathing. This stood Alurax in excellent stead as he managed to pull his trident out and return to the surface.

Meanwhile, Gullhar and Alagon had managed to use the longboat to rescue Elysia and Lydia and as many of the sailors as they could fit in. They rowed the longboat to the beach and returned to pick up the rest of the crew. As they rowed in, they spotted, about forty feet beneath the clear waters of the lagoon, the wreck of an older ship that had clearly not been so lucky when it came to the attentions of the dragon turtle. Whilst the crew, Elysia, Gullhar and Lydia dried out on the beach, Alagon and Alurax decided to go down and see if they could bring up whatever it was that the ship had been carrying. They had a profitable time, with some precious metal ingots, jewellery, gems and magic items recovered.

Further up the beach, there was a cave entrance in the cliff. The party decided to investigate. Beyond the cave was a passage into the interior of the island. At the far end of the corridor, Alagon found a heavy iron door but beside that, there was an eerie obelisk made of a sickly green stone with sinister runes carved into it. He sensed it was evil but as soon as he approached, he found his strength leaching away and he could barely stand up in his armour. The party dragged him back and he found himself recovering, albeit slowly.

Nobody wanted to pass the obelisk after seeing what it had done to the paladin and Gullhar even tried to lasso it and pull it over, hoping that by doing this he could drag it down the beach and into the sea. However, it was firmly fixed to the floor and refused to budge, despite Gullhar giving it his best shot.
Lydia then suggested that if the loss of strength was all that happened if they approached the obelisk, perhaps they should just crawl past it and out of its influence on the far side. This is exactly what the party did, with Alurax going first, followed by the others. They found themselves in a large room faced with glassy black stone.

Probably the wrong Obsidian Chamber picture.

A deep trench ran across the middle of the chamber, bridged by a slab of rock. Alagon approached the bridge and glanced down into the trench to find that there were two bodies at the bottom; one a human and the other a gnome. Knowing better than to move across the bridge without checking it out, Alagon and Gullhar decided to test it. Gullhar rolled a gold coin across the bridge and as it passed the five foot mark, it vanished, reappearing at the bottom of the chasm. They then threw another coin across the bridge, and this time it hit the far side with no problem.

Gullhar, in a flash of inspiration deduced that the bridge was an illusion beyond five feet and that this was clearly what had happened to the two adventurers whose bodies had been seen. Elysia flew the party across and they regrouped on the far side.

Unfortunately for them, the far side was already occupied by a pack of hungry shadows, eighteen in total who came swooping out of the darkness, eager for battle. Alagon and Lydia stepped forward and tried to use their ability as paladins to turn the undead. Alagon succeeded in turning six of them, but Lydia was less successful. Elysia used her Wand of Illumination’s Sunburst facility to reduce four more of the shadows to virtual impotence; they fled back into the darkness.

"Ooh look lads, they've got no cleric!"

The other eight attacked, but stiff resistance by the party and another Sunburst managed to wipe them out and the party took stock; only Lydia had been hit and had some of her strength drained but she soon started to recover again. Whilst Alurax climbed down on a rope to investigate (and loot) the bodies in the chasm, the rest of the party waited at the head of a long passageway lined with glassy black stone, sloping downwards into the dark.

Once Alurax had finished, he led the way down the passage, choosing to slide all the way down on the glassy stone. The rest of the party were a bit more circumspect and as such found a skeleton in the passage about thirty feet down. They checked it out and found some more magical items and money on it. Alurax, in the meantime had discovered that at the end of the passage were two large bronze doors, which did not seem to open when he pushed at them. He decided to wait for the rest of the party so that they could try and get the doors open together. What was beyond them? There was only one way to find out.

The party is approached by a man who needs their help urgently. He explains that following a terrible magical accident, a friend of his has been lost in the ever-shifting interdimensional vortex that surrounds the planes of existence. He needs to get her back before she becomes insane and mutated by the powerful energies that crackle across the dimensions. To do this, he needs to create a Displacer Beast King. Just like a Rat King, the Beast King consists of a number of Displacer Beasts joined together at the tail; they then acquire power beyond those of normal Beasts and can rip holes in the fabric of reality when they jump.

If the party can find and capture sufficient Displacer Beasts to make a Beast King, the party’s new friend says that he can join them together. All they have to do then is wait for the Beast King to make its first jump and then enter the vortex.

All is as represented; the party’s first big task is to find and capture a number of Displacer Beasts. That’s not going to be easy, considering they can displace themselves at will.

If the party can complete this stage of the mission successfully, then they will find their new friend more than able to carry out his part. When the appropriate magic is used, the tails of the Beasts will fuse and they will become a Beast King. The first displacement that the Beast King makes will indeed rip a hole in reality, allowing access to the interdimensional vortex.

This is a wild and frightening place where the laws of physics and indeed, reality in general do not work, or work in very different ways. Matter itself can be distorted and warped. The party’s friend will use possessions of the missing woman to try and locate her which should work well enough. What she will be like when she is found is another thing. The DM can decide or roll a d6 to find out.

1. Relatively unaffected; traumatised and with perhaps a phobia or two. Will return to normal once brought back to the Prime Material Plane2. Temporarily insane due to the things that she has seen; this will last for 1d12 weeks once she returns to the Prime Material Plane, during which time there is a chance, albeit small, that her ravings will reveal important information about dimensional travellers and goings-on in other planes.3. Permanently insane – as above, but there is no recovery possible (unless it be by wish). The party’s friend will be upset but will still pay the party their fee.4. Mildly warped; will have randomly decided body part twisted or moulded into a new appendage, or will have acquired an ability similar in character to a mutation. 5. Severely warped; will be different in body shape (but still human in flesh) or may have acquired extra appendages, limbs or heads. Very unlikely in this instance to be sane. 6. Transformed; has become a different substance, perhaps rock, jelly, slime or similar. What little consciousness there is left will be wholly mad by now. There is a good chance that she will attack the party and her old friend.

The DM should also keep an eye on how long the party stays in the interdimensional vortex; too long and they too will start to exhibit the same symptoms. They may well see things whilst there which will affect their mental stability; the DM can be inventive and use whatever sanity rules exist in his/her campaign.

What I'm DMing for 6 new junior players

Old School Links to Wisdom

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That's what Old School means to me

"These rules are flexible and open to interpretation - designed not to cover all conceivable situations, but to allow good Referees and Players the freedom to create and play games of their own design."

from the Lulu download page for The White Box S&W from BHP

"This game is unlike chess in that the rules are not cut and dried. In many places, they are guidelines and suggested methods only. This is part of the attraction of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"

About Me

Over halfway to 90, I started playing AD&D when the Police were a cool band and Punk was wild. I am a father to a ten-year-old Junior Grognard and have now managed to establish a five-strong gaming group made up of him and four of his friends, ages ranging from 10 to 11. Solidly Old-School.
High fives and natural 20s to you all!